Group reviews management plan for historic Allegheny River Boulevard

The group trying to restore the historically significant Allegheny River Boulevard between Pittsburgh and Oakmont should have a management plan in place by the end of the year.

Consultant Landmarks SGA presented a draft management plan Thursday evening that starts with short-term, less-expensive projects to remove bushes and trees that are blocking views of the Allegheny River. Longer-term work would involve first stabilizing and then restoring and possibly reopening roadside observation decks that have been closed for more than 40 years.

Jessica Stuck, principal and architect practice leader with Landmark, told about three dozen residents and local officials at Steel City Rowing in Verona that the firm was looking for feedback on its draft recommendations. It expects to have a final plan by the end of the year that will include potential funding sources for some elements of the management plan but no cost estimate or timeline for completing work.

The 6-mile boulevard was built in the 1930s using funds from the Work Progress Administration’s City Beautiful program. It extends from Washington Boulevard in Pittsburgh’s Highland Park neighborhood through Penn Hills and Verona to Hulton Road in Oakmont, but features such as the lookouts and special trees and flowers largely had been neglected until the Allegheny River Boulevard Preservation Association formed two years ago.

The group has been making landscape improvements to provide a better view of the river and obtained a $20,000 matching grant from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission for the management study. In the 1990s, The roadway was declared eligible for designation as a National Historic District, which gives it protection against physical changes and makes it eligible for special funding, but that was never pursued.

Landmarks principal John Evans said a key goal of the study is to show the association “how we can regain some of that character” from 90 years ago along the current busy highway. Much of that will center on the observation decks.

After stabilizing the flat-stone structures of the three turnouts, Landmarks is suggesting the first observation deck in Pittsburgh remain closed to vehicular traffic but possibly reopen to trail users on the proposed Brilliant Trail under development by Allegheny County in the Highland Park area.

The other two, one on each side of the roadway in Penn Hills, could be open on a limited basis once they are restored for motorists traveling on the same side of the road as the deck with no turns across traffic.

Stuck said the turnouts “are still in really good condition” despite trees growing through the stones, and weeds and dirt covering the surfaces. “But definitely you don’t want to let them sit for another 10 years without doing something to stabilize them.”

That will be a big-ticket item because it will involve hiring historic preservation specialists. Having a management plan will be a key to moving that process along, said Rick Duncan, chairman of the preservation association.

“The real reason for the management plan is so we can go to the museum commission and others [for funding],” he said in an interview after the presentation. “They can see the vision and what we want to do. The idea of this is to start stabilization as soon as possible before the walls collapse.”

Chris Blackwell, planning director for Penn Hills, said his community is on board with having the study available when opportunities arise.

“We are all working together,” he said. “It’s not happening today. But what we want is when we’re ready to do improvements on the boulevard, we want to be ready.”